At least 30 Olympic medalists, 30 World Championships
medalists and 13 American record holders will vie for national
crowns and coveted spots on the Team USA roster this weekend
at the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, June
21-24 in Indianapolis. The top three finishers in each event
who have met IAAF qualifying standards will be selected for the
Team USA roster for the IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field
Championships, which will take place August 25-September 2 in
Osaka, Japan.
The fifth and final event of USA Track & Field's 2007 Outdoor
Visa Championship Series, the AT&T USA Outdoor Championships
will be televised live on ESPN2 from 8-9 p.m. on Friday, June
22, and tape-delayed from 7-8 p.m. Saturday, June 23. The meet
will air live on NBC from 2-3 p.m. Saturday, June 23, and from
1-3 p.m. on Sunday, June 24. All times are Eastern.
In addition to previously announced standouts in the men's
200 meters, shot put and 400m hurdles, and women's hurdles and
400 meters, major headliners at the Championships include
Allyson Felix, Bryan Clay, Lauryn Williams, Jenn
Stuczynski, Deena Kastor, Bernard Lagat, Dwight Phillips,
Tianna Madison and Walter Davis among many others.
Despite her automatic bye on to the Team USA World
Championships roster as the reigning women's 200m world
champion, Allyson Felix is slated to attempt a 100/200 double
at Indy. Felix, who owns the fastest 200m time in the world
this year (22.18 seconds) will face a strong field in the 100
meters from reigning World Outdoor champion Lauryn Williams
and 2003 World 100m champion Torri Edwards, who posted
the fastest time in the world this year with her May 20 win at
the adidas Track Classic in 10.90 seconds. In the 200, her
competition includes World Outdoor Championships silver
medalist and defending U.S. champion Rachelle Boone-
Smith and IAAF World Athlete of the Year Sanya
Richards, who won the 200 at the 2006 IAAF World Cup in
Athletics.
Jenn Stuczynski has breathed new life into American women's
pole vaulting by becoming the nation's dominant competitor in
that event in a relative short time. A standout basketball
player who first tried the pole vault two years ago,
Stuczynski became only the third woman in history - and the
first American - to clear the 16-foot barrier on June 2, 2007,
with her American record winning clearance of 4.88 meters/16
feet at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City. It was her
second American record of the outdoor season and is the top
vault in the world so far in 2007.
More top athletes
In field event action, seven-time U.S. champion Breaux Greer
will once again be a heavy favorite in the men's javelin.
Greer, who has been ranked #1 in the U.S. the last seven years
in a row, posted the top throw in the world this year and
American record with his winning toss of 90.71 meters, 297 feet
7 inches, in winning at the adidas Track Classic.
2004 Olympic silver medalist and reigning world champion
Bryan Clay will look to win his third U.S. men's decathlon
title in the two-day competition beginning on Friday. Clay
will face a strong challenge from reigning U.S. champion and
2003 world champion Tom Pappas.
2004 Olympic women's marathon bronze medalist and American
10,000m record holder Deena Kastor will be gunning for her
fifth title in that event Thursday night. Kastor, who last
year became the first American woman to run under 2 hours 20
minutes in winning the 2006 Flora London Marathon in 2:19:36,
has already won national titles this year in cross country,
the marathon and 15 km road race. In the women's 5,000 meters,
look for Shalane Flanagan, who in 2007 has set American
records indoors in the 3,000m (8:33.25) and outdoors in the
5,000 (14:44.80)
In the men's distance races, Olympic and world outdoor
medalist Bernard Lagat is currently entered in the
1,500m - an event where he holds the American record - and
5,000m, the events he won at this meet last year to become the
first man ever to win that distance double. The American
record holder in the half marathon, Ryan Hall leads
entrants in the men's 10,000 meters along with two-time U.S.
champion Abdi Abdirahman.
The men's 110-meter hurdles should be a thrilling finishing
between American record holder Dominique Arnold and two-
time Olympic medalist Terrence Trammell.
Additional athletes to watch include world and Olympic men's
long jump champion Dwight Phillips, reigning world indoor and
outdoor men's triple jump champion Walter Davis, men's Olympic
pole vault champion Tim Mack and 2005 World Outdoor
women's long jump champion Tianna Madison. Other
American record holders competing in the championships include
women's javelin thrower Kim Kreiner, women's discus
thrower Suzy Powell, women's hammer thrower Erin
Gilreath, men's steeplechaser Dan Lincoln, 5,000m
runner Matt Tegenkamp, who set broke the American record
in the 2-mile (8:07.07), and five-time USA 20 km race walk
champion Tim Seaman.
Ticket information is available at www.indianasportscorp.c
om and (800) HI-FIVES. Tickets can also be purchased
through all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge-by-phone
numbers and www.ticketmaster.com.
All ticket purchases include free parking. USATF welcomes you
to pay with your Visa.
For more information on the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor
Championships and USATF's Visa Championship Series, visit www.usatf.org and www.visachampionshi
pseries.com